NHIS faults account compromise

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has said the account of the scheme remains secured, intact and beyond the possible reach of hackers and other nefarious entities as it only operates the federal government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA).

In a statement issued by the NHIS’ head of communication, Ayo Osinlu, on Sunday, it said this is coming amidst discovery of fraud in the operations of one of the Health Maintenance Organisations (HMO), Clearline International Limited, leading to the arrest of two persons, one of whom is a staff of the HMO concerned which has come to the notice of NHIS.

“The seriousness of this crime, the huge sum of money involved, and the reference to NHIS’ account being hacked in the process have compelled the Scheme to make the following clarifications:

“NHIS has no account anywhere else outside the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It is therefore not possible, or true, that the perpetrators of this heinous crime hacked into the account of NHIS in this act.

“In the spirit of the Scheme’s ongoing rebranding reforms, of which Transparency and Accountability is a major factor, a Management Committee has been constituted the day after the crime was reported, to ascertain the veracity of the allegations, the actual sum involved and the circumstances that facilitated the commission of the crime, among other terms of reference,” the statement read partly.

It, however, reassure its stakeholders and the general public that it will not tolerate any breach of trust or guidelines under its operations, while they also remain committed to the ongoing reforms aimed at repositioning the agency as a result-oriented and socially-responsible public institution.